Shadows of the Past
by Dr. Emma Hamish Winchester
Summary: Little Leia and Bail look through some old photo albums and find something unexpected. Post-RotS pre-Rebels. Bad summary, sorry; I promise I'm a better writer than this. One-shot. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW


A/N: Hello everyone! I realize it has been a long time since I updated anything, and I apologize for that. With the amount of work I had this semester, I made the difficult decision to put everything on hiatus until the summer. Almost there, yay! Anyway, I hope this helps make up for it.

I do not own Star Wars or its characters.

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Bail Organa wandered through the lofty, hallowed halls of his family's ancestral palace. Many things had those walls witnessed; assassinations, great debates, grand balls, and civil wars. His feet echoed on the floors and one could almost feel the history leaching from the walls. However, his search was much more pedestrian.

Finally the man located his object, a dainty six-year-old curled up on a small enclave in one of the lesser libraries, a pad cradled in her lap, her long dark hair tumbling from its careful perch to hang half-fallen in her face. In typical childish fashion she hadn't noticed, instead leaving it to drag on the large screen.

Bail smiled at her, "Hello, Leia." She glanced up at him briefly, gracing him with a distracted smile before returning to her pursuit.

"What are you reading?"

This time she didn't even look up, "Pictures."

He nodded seriously, "All right. Well, I saw a nerf-herder and his nerfs near here this morning. I thought we could go see them."

"Hm." Was all she responded.

Bail's brow furrowed in confusion. His ward didn't normally act like this. Most days he would have seen her face light up at the prospect of visiting the bovine creatures, and she would have babbled excitedly and practically jumped up and down until they finally left. Instead she seemed almost uninterested. "What are the pictures?"

Leia's face was scrunched up adorably in careful concentration, "They're old." She giggled slightly, "You looked so funny, Daddy!"

Ah. She had found an old photo album. Realizing they weren't going anywhere for a while, he walked over, sat down, and pulled the little girl into his lap. Several minutes passed, flipping and scrolling through images while Bail elaborated on the interesting ones. Mostly they were on Coruscant, relatively boring official pictures to celebrate the passing of some new bill. Still, Leia seemed to enjoy giggling at the more bizarre-looking aliens, and he enjoyed spending this time with her.

"Who is that, Daddy?" Bail froze as he saw where she was pointing. A beautiful woman stood in the background of the picture, clearly oblivious to it being taken, as she laughed with a handsome young Jedi leaning against the wall… Padme… His chest tightened with grief; he missed her. He swallowed, looking at the little girl in his lap, "That's… That is your mother."

Leia gazed at him, breaking into giggles, "That's not Mommy! Mommy doesn't look like that!"

He hadn't intended to tell her. She was safer without the knowledge. But now… staring at Padme's face on the screen, he couldn't lie. Her daughter deserved to know, at least to some degree. He wouldn't say names, but he could at least tell her something, ensure that Padme Amidala was not completely forgotten. "Well, you see…" He tried to think how to explain the concept to her. "…You see, that is your other mother."

She looked confused.

"That woman gave birth to you, but she couldn't keep you, so your mother and I decided you could be our daughter." That was not how he meant it to come out. Leia stopped, taking it all in, then her expression changed and she looked almost ready to cry, "Didn't she want me?"

"Of course she did. Leia, listen to me. Your mother loved you very, very much. She wanted you more than anything in the universe. But she… she…" He trailed off, unable to continue.

"What happened to her?" The little girl paused, fixing him with a penetrating look that reminded him of her father, "Did she die?"

His heart ached for her. She shouldn't understand such things at her age. His involvement with rebel cells and the secret fight against the Empire had already forced her to be mature beyond her years. "Why do you think she died, Sweetheart?"

She cocked her head, studying him, "You felt hurt, just now, when I pointed her out. Not hurt like… like you cut yourself… hurt in your heart." She dropped her voice, whispering, "Is this one we aren't supposed to talk about?" She was used to this, strange injured people landing or crashing in the field near the palace where they wouldn't be seen, who were then rushed silently inside. Sometimes they lived, sometimes they didn't, but either way their presence was kept secret, Leia being reminded not to mention them to anyone. So many things in their life were secret.

Bail drew Leia closer to him at her words, fear clutching him. She knew what he was feeling. He could often forget who and what his daughter was, she was such a sweet little girl, but then she would say or do something that reminded him of their constant danger. She was strong with the Force, he could tell; in another life she would most certainly have been a Jedi, but here her growing abilities only served to remind him of the Imperial threat. If the Sith noticed her… They would take her away most definitely; kill her, study her or twist her into something as horrible as themselves. She had to be protected, no matter what.

Leia spoke from her cradle under his chin, "I'm sorry. I wish I could have known her." She paused, "What was she like?"

Bail sighed softly. How did he begin to tell her? How could he begin to explain his best friend? "She was… amazing. Incredibly selfless and loving." He paused, "She always thought the best of everyone, even when they didn't deserve it. She was… brilliant, humble… a natural leader and a great speaker. She-"

"No, Daddy. What was she _like_?" Leia spoke frustratedly.

He suddenly understood, "She would have loved you. If she was here, she would spend every evening reading to you. I know it." He smiled sadly, "She would have made you be good and eat your vegetables, no doubt about that, but she would also hug you, and dry your tears when you fell, and make certain that you were the happiest child in the galaxy." He continued to talk, trying to give his precious daughter even a sliver of the childhood she should have had.

She paused, "Would she watch holos with me?"

Bail gave a low chuckle at that, "Oh yes."

He relaxed his grip and she returned to studying the picture, "I remember her, I think, a little. I dream about her sometimes. She always seemed so nice… and so sad." She twisted around, looking up into his face, "Why was she sad, Daddy?"

Bail didn't answer, averting his face so she couldn't see his pain.

Again that piercing look, as though she could see right through him, "I'm sorry. Did I say something wrong?"

"No, no, little one. You're fine."

She paused, "You're frightened."

He stared at the pad still in her lap, his eyes fixing on the smiling young face of the Jedi, who was gazing at the woman like she was the only thing in the universe.

 _Don't worry, Padme. I'll take care of her. He will never find her, not as long as I live._


End file.
